BACKGROUND

The idea of a meta-layer on the web is not new—concepts like annotation and associative trails between information date back to before the web itself. Existing projects, such as Hypothesis, Memex, and Honey, operate in this space above the webpage.
 

The recently published book, The Metaweb: The Next Level of the Internet, outlines the high-level concept of a safe, AI-assisted environment above the webpage that promotes privacy, data sovereignty, and fair value exchange.

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On Sept. 16th, we had a kickoff meeting for the Meta-Layer initiative, which  aims to build a foundational application substrate that enables anyone to develop overlay applications, smart tags, and communities that that are active above webpage, potentially integrating existing participants, data, and codebases.
 

The meeting brought together participants to discuss the vision and foundational aspects of a meta-layer built on top of the web. Vint Cerf led the discussion with insights from his extensive experience, providing valuable guidance on building infrastructure and emphasizing key principles like accountability, agency, simplicity, and standards. The group discussed the practical aspects of establishing a new infrastructure and the importance of a federated authentication system, accountability, standards, and business models to support the initiative's growth. The meeting ended with participants suggesting ways to organize and structure their efforts moving forward, with the recognition that simplicity and practical milestones would be critical for success. Here is the transcript and audio. 

Our near-term goal is to collaboratively write an essay on the desirable properties of a meta-layer as suggested by Vint. In the meeting, it also came up that people want to see concrete use cases of a meta-layer. Our first step is to generate a comprehensive list of desirable properties and use cases for a meta-layer that can anchor the essay. Below is the first draft of the desirable properties and the use cases.

DESIRABLE PROPERTIES OF A META-LAYER

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In the Sept. 16, 2024 Meta-Layer initiative meeting, Vint Cerf recommended a first step of writing an essay on the desirable properties of a meta-layer. In the meeting, several ideas were identified as desirable properties of the meta-layer, emphasizing trust, security, simplicity, and participant empowerment. In October, we published the Call for Input on the Desirable Properties of a Meta-Layer and organized a number of virtual working sessions. We also participated in email conversations on the People Centered Internet community calls group. 
 

As of re-opening the call for input, this is a categorization of the desirable properties that we have discovered so far. 

Authentication and Accountability
Ensure decentralized, trusted identity verification. Allow participants to control their presence and interactions on the Metaweb. Support scalable, adaptive governance to meet the needs of a growing community.

Federated Authentication & Accountability

The meta-layer implements federated strong authentication to enable decentralized identity verification, ensuring trust and reducing fraud. Accountability mechanisms enforce transparency and responsibility for actions, promoting safe and trustworthy interactions within the ecosystem.

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• Federated Strong Authentication: A system where multiple trusted entities authenticate participants, providing a decentralized way to verify identity. This ensures that the meta-layer operates with high levels of trust while reducing the risk of identity fraud or bad behavior.

• Accountability: The meta-layer must include mechanisms that hold entities responsible for verifying their identity, humanity, and uniqueness, and for their actions online. This would help build trust in interactions, knowing participants are verified and accountable.

• Adaptive Intelligence Integration: Authentication systems should evolve with RLADP (reinforcement learning approximate dynamic programming) principles to ensure accountability and transparency across both human and AI interactions.

• Foresight and Minefield Thinking: Governance should anticipate future risks and conflicts of interest (COI), with community-led protocols designed to adapt to emerging challenges across financial, military, and social domains.

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Participant Agency and Empowerment

Empowering participants is central to the meta-layer, granting full control over interactions, content views, and digital identities. Reputation systems reward positive contributions and combat misuse, while non-monetary incentives encourage ongoing engagement. Future-proof governance protocols ensure adaptability to dynamic challenges and opportunities.
 

• Participant Agency: Participants should have full control over how they interact with the meta-layer. This includes managing their presence, customizing content views through smart filters, and deciding who can interact with them.

  • The Meta-Layer prioritizes user needs by continuously engaging communities through surveys, open sessions, and other participatory processes. This ensures the design reflects real-world needs, fostering trust and relevance. (WS#1: Chris Bates)

• Reputation Systems: participants who are verified and act in good standing should be rewarded through reputation systems that reflect their trustworthiness and contributions to the community. This can also help combat harassment and bad behavior.

• Dynamic Reputation Systems: Build reputation systems that evolve using adaptive, decentralized intelligence tools, ensuring participants can manage their digital identities over time without exploitation. 

• Future-Proof Governance Protocols: Embed foresight strategies into governance to enable communities to proactively address risks and opportunities in a dynamic digital landscape. 

• Non-monetary reward: Introducing token or non-monetary rewards for early adopters and contributors to maintain engagement without reliance on purely financial systems.
   

Adaptive Governance Supporting an Exponentially Growing Community

As the Metaweb scales, its governance must remain decentralized and adaptive, promoting fairness and collaboration. A compensated organizing team and structured roles like sponsors, advisors, and developers will drive progress. Token-based incentives and community-led subgroups enable inclusive and scalable decision-making.
 

• Organizing Team: we need a compensated organizing team to drive operations, communication, and project timelines.

  • Interim Director

  • Community management

  • Communications lead

  • Events organizer

  • Meeting hosts

  • Social media lead

  • Financial lead

  • Technical lead

• Governance Structure

  • Establish a council to oversee foundational policies while distributing decision-making to subgroups within the community.

  • Roles and Responsibilities:

    • Sponsors: Provide strategic vision and resources.

    • Advisors: Provide strategic vision

    • Team: Drive operations, communication, and project timelines.

    • Open Source Contributors: Develop code, extensions, and applications.

    • Participants and Developers: Build the ecosystem and contribute feedback.

• Incentives and Rewards:

  • Design reward systems that motivate participation through recognition, access to exclusive tools, or governance tokens.

  • Introduce mechanisms for token-based voting and decision-making, empowering community members to help shape policies.

• Scalable Governance:

  • Use progressive decentralization: start with core governance and evolve toward a more community-controlled model as adoption grows.

  • Foster meta-communities to govern specific spaces (e.g., thematic groups, interest-based collectives).

Sovereignty and Privacy

Full user control over personal data and privacy. Enable unique identities and data ownership within a decentralized system. Empower participants with data control in digital transactions and sustainable economies.
 

Data Sovereignty and Privacy

Participants maintain full control of their data through privacy-centric designs, dynamic privacy settings, and secure personal data vaults. Context-specific frameworks and quantum-resistant encryption ensure long-term data security and sovereignty within a decentralized system.
 

• Data Sovereignty: participants should fully own and control their personal data within the meta-layer. This includes the ability to decide who has access to their data, how it's used, and to revoke access if necessary.

• Privacy-Centric Design: Privacy should be embedded into the design of the meta-layer, ensuring that participants' data is protected in a personal data vault and that interactions are secure from surveillance or exploitation by third parties.

• Personas. Participants should be able to have multiple personas associated with their one primary account

• Context-Specific Privacy: Privacy frameworks must incorporate advanced intelligence tools (e.g., RLADP) that allow for dynamic, context-specific privacy settings, ensuring sensitive information flows only where it is needed. 

• Quantum-Resistant Security: The Meta-Layer must be future-proofed with quantum-resistant encryption to prepare for evolving security risks, ensuring long-term protection. 
   

Decentralized Namespace

The meta-layer introduces meta-domains and personal identifiers, serving as tradable assets that anchor identity and ownership in a decentralized ecosystem. These innovations enable seamless integration with the web, fostering interoperability and supporting vibrant virtual economies.
 

• Meta-Domains, Personal identifiers, and Digital Artifacts:

  • Similar to traditional domains (e.g., .com or .org), meta-domains address virtual spaces within the Metaweb.

  • Similar to emails, personal identifiers address participants and personas within the Metaweb.

  • Digital artifacts (akin to Bitcoin ordinals) serve as identifiers, assets, or NFTs and can be bought, sold, and transferred.

  • These artifacts anchor identity and ownership in the decentralized space and provide customizable personal or community spaces.

• Interoperability and Tradeability:

  • Tradeable meta-assets allow participants to exchange digital spaces or objects, fostering virtual commerce.

  • Meta-domains link seamlessly to the broader web while also functioning within the Metaweb’s overlay framework.

• Namespace Innovation:

  • Simple Naming Systems (SNS): Participants can claim meta-domains (e.g., boeing.com.web4 or apple.com.web4) and personal identifiers (e.g., shiftshapr.web4)

  • Unique Digital Identity: Meta-domains and personal identifiers can be tied to decentralized identifiers (DIDs), offering verifiable identities across multiple spaces.

 

Commerce 

The meta-layer facilitates fair compensation through microtransactions, rewards, and diverse payment methods, including both decentralized and fiat systems. Meta-communities can establish their own economic ecosystems, supporting sustainable development through innovative models like the care economy and contextual advertising.
 

• Monetary Compensation and Value Attribution: Participants are compensated fairly for their contributions through mechanisms like microtransactions, rewards, and peer-to-peer payments. 

• Support for Payment Methods: The Meta-Layer supports both decentralized payments (Bitcoin, tokens, NFTs) and traditional methods (fiat currency), fostering flexibility across platforms and economies. 

• Includes custodial and/or supports non-custodial wallets

• Meta-Community Economies: Meta-communities can establish and sustain their own economic ecosystems through transparent, frictionless transactions that enable fair exchange, crowd-owned economies, and barter systems.

• Support for New Economies for Sustainable Development - e.g., purple economy is the care economy

• Contextual Advertising

 

Interoperability and Participant Experience

Support seamless interactions across platforms and reduces complexity. Facilitate cross-platform collaboration, allowing meta-communities to flourish. Encourages developer engagement by offering cross-platform reach. Structured onboarding and resources to help participants navigate the Metaweb.

Simplicity and Interoperability

The meta-layer emphasizes simplicity by reducing complexity in its design and promoting seamless interoperability across platforms. This ensures participants can engage effortlessly, while AI tools monitor data flow to maintain privacy and foster efficient cross-domain collaboration.
 

• Simplicity: The infrastructure should be as simple as possible to promote adoption and reduce complexity. Vint Cerf emphasized that the fewer ways to implement something, the better. Simplicity helps avoid the overhead of managing too many standards or protocols.

• Interoperability: The meta-layer must support interoperability between different platforms, enabling participants, applications, and communities to interact seamlessly across the web. This ensures that no one entity controls the space, aligning with the principles of decentralization.

• Cross-Domain Interoperability: The Meta-Layer should facilitate bridges between diverse systems—such as financial, military, and civic platforms—while balancing interests and minimizing conflicts across industries. 

• AI-Governed Transparency: AI can assist in monitoring the flow of data between systems, ensuring interoperability without compromising privacy. 

Collaborative Environment and Meta-Communities

The meta-layer fosters meta-communities that enable participants to collaborate and share insights across platforms. Features like shared collaboration spaces and AI-augmented decision-making ensure persistent, trust-driven engagement in a decentralized environment.
 

• Meta-Communities: The meta-layer should enable the creation of meta-communities, where participants can collaborate, share insights, and engage with content across various websites. These communities should persist across the web and be tied to participant trust and verification mechanisms.

• Shared Collaboration Spaces: On-page collaboration and annotation allow participants to contribute directly to webpages and share their knowledge, creating a collaborative and engaging web experience.

• Community Ownership: Empowering communities with ownership ensures they actively contribute to governance and reap the benefits of shared data, fostering sustainable engagement and alignment with local needs. 

• Cross-Domain Collaboration through Bridges: The Meta-Layer must support bridges across industries and domains, helping diverse communities exchange information seamlessly and build shared realities. 

• AI-Augmented Collaboration: Integrate AI tools into collaboration spaces to enhance decision-making and problem-solving while ensuring AI contributions remain under community control. 

• Data Sovereignty in Economies: Meta communities could cultivate shared datasets and build economies, reinforcing decentralized value generation. 

 

Developer and Community Incentives

Developers gain broader reach with tools to build applications across the Metaweb, while participants enjoy persistent community spaces. Incentive systems, such as rewards and recognition, encourage active contribution and sustained community involvement.
 

• Broader Reach for Developers: Developers can build applications that work across the web of relevant pages, reaching more participants and enhancing content in ways not restricted by individual platforms.

• Community Access and Control: Community organizers and developers have the ability to create persistent, cross-platform communities that enhance collaboration and foster deeper engagement across the web.

Education

Education initiatives within the meta-layer offer interactive onboarding, lifelong learning opportunities, and dynamic knowledge-sharing environments. AI-powered learning assistants provide personalized support, while gamified achievements, such as PEARL digital badges, incentivize learning and skill development.
 

• Onboarding and User Guidance: Provide structured onboarding pathways, helping participants familiarize themselves with the Meta-Layer, and its tools, features, and capabilities.

• How to Use the Meta-Layer Effectively: Offer interactive tutorials, FAQs, and guides, complemented by an AI Learning Assistant for personalized user support and learning plans.

• Lifelong Learning Opportunities: Promote continuous education through dynamic knowledge-sharing environments within meta-communities. Encourage skill development, professional growth, and cross-discipline collaboration.

• Glossary for Shared Understanding: Develop a comprehensive glossary to clarify key terms and concepts (e.g., "human-centered AI," "human-machine collaboration") for both technical and non-technical participants. This glossary will help bridge misunderstandings between communities and ensure clarity in discussions.

• PEARL Digital Badges: Use badges to incentivize learning, with stages for participants to Prepare, Engage, Reflect, and Leverage their contributions and experiences. These badges enhance academic and professional portfolios, aligning with the Meta-Layer’s community-based learning model.

• AI Learning Assistant: Enable personalized education journeys, adaptive content delivery, and real-time mentoring support based on user behavior and needs.
   

AI Governance and Safety

Ethical AI frameworks ensure AI actions are transparent and align with community standards. Facilitate responsible AI use, ensuring actions are explainable and auditable. Constrain the actions and behavior of AI agents within the meta-environment.
 

Safe and Ethical AI
AI systems in the meta-layer operate transparently and ethically, with explainable decision-making and adherence to community standards. Ethical AI ensures user protection and fosters trust by aligning AI behavior with societal values and goals.
 

• Constitutional AI and Glass Box AI: AI systems in the meta-layer should operate with ethical constraints, making their decision-making processes transparent and explainable. AI should not manipulate interactions, particularly virality, and should be controlled to avoid negative impacts on real people.

• Quantum AGI Preparation: The Meta-Layer should remain adaptable to quantum advancements, preparing for future AI governance needs through modular, extendable infrastructure. 

• Personal AI and Vault. Personal AI systems leverage secure personal data vaults to deliver exclusive AI assistance to their owner. These vaults empower individuals and their AI proxies to control their data, ensuring safe, consent- or commerce-driven access. Your personal AI with access to all your data will be your best assistant possible.

• Community AI. Community AI supports address collective needs by analyzing shared data to improve public services, sustainability, and resilience. Designed collaboratively with residents, these systems ensure equitable, transparent, and community-driven outcomes.

• Bias Mitigation: Bias mitigation ensures fairness in AI systems by addressing imbalances in data, algorithms, and outcomes. By incorporating diverse datasets and conducting regular audits, the Meta-layer can promote equity and prevent discriminatory practices in AI applications. Incorporate diverse datasets and mandate regular audits to identify and address algorithmic biases.

Community-based AI Governance
Meta-communities play an active role in governing AI systems, ensuring their actions align with community standards and ethical principles. This collaborative oversight promotes accountability and trust in AI-driven interactions and decisions.
 

• AI Governance via Meta-Communities: Meta-communities can play a role in overseeing and governing AI behavior, ensuring that AI operates in ways that align with community standards and ethical practices.

AI Containment
AI systems are constrained within transparent frameworks that align actions with participant and community goals. Containment strategies, informed by RLADP principles, prevent misuse and ensure AI serves human interests without compromising privacy or trust.
 

• Containment: Constrain the behavior and actions of AI with the meta-layer.

• Establish transparent oversight committees composed of diverse community members to audit AI decisions regularly.

• Constrain AI actions to pre-approved domains using community-defined rules that prioritize privacy and security.

• RLADP: Incorporate RLADP intelligence principles, ensuring AI systems serve human interests without compromising privacy, trust, or governance.

Security, Transparency, & Trust

Establish clear standards for behavior, including transparent AI practices. Ensure data and content authenticity through secure, traceable sources. Provide clear development guidelines to ensure security and transparent progress. Ensure the Meta-layer’s security and infrastructure are sustainably funded.

 

Trust and Transparency
The Meta-Layer aims to foster trust and transparency by creating environments where participants can interact confidently, supported by strong authentication, reputation systems, and ethical standards. Transparency in AI use ensures all actions are auditable, explainable, and governed responsibly, while AI operates within containment frameworks to align with community goals. By aligning with societal movements like information integrity and data sovereignty, the Meta-Layer addresses urgent societal needs, fostering public adoption. Governance is forward-looking, proactively mitigating conflicts of interest and ensuring decision-making remains transparent and aligned with collective values.
 

• Trusted Environments: participants should be able to trust the environment they are interacting in. Whether it's other participants, AI agents, or content, trust will be established through strong authentication, reputation systems, and clear standards for behavior.

• Transparency in AI Use: The use of AI within the meta-layer must be transparent, ensuring that AI actions are auditable, explainable, and governed by strict ethical standards.

• Movement alignment: The Meta-Layer will align with relevant societal movements such as information integrity, human evolution, and data sovereignty. This alignment can build momentum and foster public adoption by addressing urgent societal needs and values. (WS#1)

• Governance through Foresight and COI Mitigation: The governance model must anticipate and eliminate conflicts of interest (COI) that destabilize digital ecosystems, using insights from RLADP-based systems to support transparent decision-making. 

• AI Containment within Transparent Frameworks: AI systems must operate within a containment framework, where their actions are visible, predictable, and aligned with community goals. 

Security and Provenance

Robust encryption and secure communication channels safeguard interactions within the meta-layer. Content provenance ensures participants can trace origins and modifications, providing a reliable foundation for trust and authenticity.
 

• Security at the Core: Strong encryption, data protection mechanisms, and secure communication channels should be integral to the meta-layer. This ensures that both data and interactions are protected from malicious actors.

• Provenance of Content: The origin and history of content must be easily traceable. participants should know where content comes from, how it was modified, and by whom, providing a secure and reliable way to assess the authenticity of information.

• Archive of Content: All content relevant to the global meta-discourse should be immutably archived and forever available to future generations. The permanent global discourse will always be a lifeline to truth, a shared reality and history.
   

Roadmap and Milestones

A phased development approach includes implementing strong authentication, decentralized governance, and community-driven strategies. Foresight-informed milestones prepare the meta-layer for unexpected challenges, ensuring long-term relevance and adaptability.
 

• Milestones for Implementation: A well-defined roadmap with clear milestones should guide the development of the meta-layer. These could include the establishment of strong authentication standards, decentralized governance models, and meta-community engagement strategies.

• Minefield-Aware Milestones: Develop milestones that reflect foresight thinking, preparing the Meta-Layer for unexpected challenges across financial, civic, and technological domains. 

• Community-Driven Governance Models: Ensure that each phase of development integrates community input to avoid centralization and conflicts of interest. 
   

Financial Sustainability
Sustainable funding models such as DAOs, grants, and token ecosystems ensure grassroots alignment and ongoing development. By monetizing applications and overlay services, the meta-layer enables financial stability while rewarding early contributors and developers.
 

• Community-Based Funding Models: Leveraging crowdfunding, DAOs, and similar tools ensures alignment with participant interests and grassroots ownership.

• Grant Opportunities: Partnering with governments, institutions, and NGOs to secure financial support for core development and public-good initiatives.

• Foundation. Launching the Web4 Foundation first as a fiscally sponsored project and later as a foundation could provide a sustainable funding stream.  

• Token Ecosystems: Offering early contributors and developers tokens that grow in utility and value, creating incentive alignment and long-term engagement.

• Monetization Paths: Providing platforms for developers and creators to build applications and overlay services within the Meta-Layer, creating sustainable revenue streams through licensing, premium features, and partnerships.
   

Community Participation and Feedback

Build accountability through feedback and reputation-based rewards. Encourage community-led promotion and engagement. Incentivize participants with rewards, supporting community-driven growth. Encourage community-driven learning and collaboration within meta-communities.

Feedback Loops and Reputation

Continuous feedback mechanisms, supported by AI-adaptive systems, enable communities to refine governance and operations. Reputation-based rewards promote positive contributions and accountability, fostering a responsible and vibrant ecosystem.
 

• Feedback Loops: Build-in feedback loops that allow participants and communities to report bad behavior and reward positive contributions. This helps maintain a healthy, accountable environment where bad actors are discouraged through community-driven moderation.

• Reputation-Based Compensation: Compensation mechanisms tied to participants' reputation and positive contributions could incentivize engagement while promoting responsible behavior.

• Feedback Mechanisms: Establish continuous feedback mechanisms (like surveys and town halls) to adapt the Meta-Layer based on community feedback. This ensures solutions remain relevant and aligned with evolving user needs. 

• Adaptive Feedback Systems: Incorporate AI-based feedback loops that evolve over time, allowing communities to refine governance protocols based on emerging needs. 

• Dynamic Role-Based Access: Introduce role-based access that adjusts according to evolving reputation metrics, ensuring long-term stability and fairness. 
   

Amplifying Presence and Community Engagement

Creating awareness, building a resonant identity, and fostering community-led promotion are central to the success of the Metaweb. This property emphasizes both traditional and community-driven marketing strategies, with strong brand identity and sustainable engagement channels.
 

• Branding:

  • The Metaweb requires a memorable, symbolic name and iconic presence to convey its mission of enabling agency, transparency, and new layers of digital interaction.
    Examples:

    • Sky-Net (inspired by futuristic connectivity but unfortunate Terminator reference)

    • Sky-Web (web as a limitless sky-like structure)

    • Canopi: Within the Presence Browser, Canopi reflects interconnected spaces like tree canopies, providing chat and community interaction above web pages.

    • The Overweb: As coined in the Metaweb book, the Overweb refers to a safe, AI-assisted meta-environment.

• Community-Driven Marketing:

  • Incentivize community members with bounties, badges, or tokens for promoting and growing the Metaweb’s presence.

  • Establish ambassador programs to encourage participants to spread the word and contribute actively.

  • Content generation by participants (e.g., blogs, social media posts) drives organic growth.

• Social Media Integration:

  • Cross-posting tools allow participants to share their experiences and insights from the Metaweb directly on social platforms (e.g., X, Instagram, LinkedIn).

  • Public Relations: Proactive outreach to media and partnerships with thought leaders and influencers to establish Metaweb’s narrative in the public sphere.

• Bounties and Rewards:

  • Offer incentives for specific actions (e.g., content creation, event organization) through smart tokens or digital badges.

  • Gamify marketing efforts with leaderboards and recognition for community contributions.
     

Community ownership
Ownership of the meta-layer and the universal knowledge graph empowers participants to control and monetize shared systems. These mechanisms promote decentralization, ensuring equitable access and alignment with community values.
 

• Meta-layer: Establish mechanisms that enable the community to own and/or control the meta-layer. 

• Universal knowledge graph: Establish mechanisms that enable the community to own, control, and monetize the system and/or aspects of the universal knowledge graph. 

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PRIMARY USE CASES OF A META-LAYER

During one of the breakout sessions in the Meta-Layer Initiative meeting, several participants expressed that they did not fully understand what the practical use cases for a meta-layer would be. In response to this feedback, we’ve developed the following use cases to clearly illustrate how the meta-layer will transform web experiences across a range of scenarios, highlighting its practical applications for users, developers, and communities.
 

1. Safe Digital Space
    

   The meta-layer ensures that participants are engaging with real, verified individuals, significantly reducing the risk of bots or AI-generated profiles undermining interactions. Through strong authentication systems, reputation management, and governance mechanisms, Safe Digital Space creates an environment where participants can confidently interact, knowing their personal data and privacy are protected. Furthermore, the meta-layer actively identifies and restricts AI agents from pretending to be human or influencing virality or reputation systems.
   
   Example: A participant on a professional community site can trust that the people they encounter as verified individuals, preventing bots or AI-generated profiles from manipulating discussions or interactions.
    

2. ​On-Page Presence
   
   Participants can choose to reveal their presence on webpages, allowing them to meet, interact, and collaborate in real-time with others who are browsing the same content. This creates a new social layer that fosters spontaneous connections and meaningful engagements across the web.
   
   Example: While exploring a research paper, a participant notices colleagues from their field are also on the page. They can start a real-time conversation, ask questions, or collaborate on ideas directly above the content.
    

3. On-Page Interactions
   
   On-Page Interactions allow participants to engage directly with content through annotations, comments, and smart tags. These interactions are tied to specific locations on the webpage, providing participants with context and insights without disrupting their experience. participants can interact with overlay applications, enriching the page with added functionality or information.
   
   Example: A student reading an online textbook can leave annotations explaining difficult concepts, helping future readers to better understand the material, or activate smart tags that link to supplemental resources.
    

4. Contextual Awareness
   
   The meta-layer enhances participants' awareness by providing context around whatever they are focusing on. Through smart tags, annotations, and insights from meta-communities, participants can access relevant background information, related content, or additional resources that improve their understanding in real-time.
   
   Example: As a reader browses a scientific article, related research papers and definitions of technical terms automatically appear through smart tags, offering deeper insights and a more comprehensive understanding.
    

5. Meta-Communities
   
   Meta-communities enable groups to meet, interact, and collaborate across multiple webpages. Whether working on a shared project or simply discussing topics of interest, meta-communities persist across the web, allowing members to stay connected and engage in real-time, directly tied to the content they’re viewing.
   
   Example: A group of developers working on an open-source project can meet and collaborate on specific documentation pages, discussing code snippets and sharing improvements without leaving the webpage.
    

6. AI Containment and Transparency
   
   In the meta-layer, AI agents are fully transparent and contained within strict governance rules. participants are always aware when they are interacting with AI, and AI systems are restricted from influencing critical aspects of the web experience, such as virality or reputation systems. These mechanisms ensure that AI operates ethically and does not disrupt the trustworthiness of the environment.
   
   Example: When browsing product reviews, a participant can easily see which reviews were generated by AI and which were written by verified human participants. AI-generated reviews do not affect the product’s overall rating, preventing manipulation by bots or AI algorithms.
    

7. Data Sovereignty and Personalization
   
   The meta-layer allows participants to maintain control over their personal data and privacy. Participants decide how their data is shared and used, allowing for a personalized experience without compromising data sovereignty. This empowers participants to interact with the web on their own terms, with full transparency and control over their digital footprint.
   
   Example: A participant visiting a news site can choose whether or not to share their reading habits in exchange for personalized content recommendations, maintaining control over how their data is used while customizing their experience.
    

8. ​Developer and Community Incentives

   
   Developers can build applications that work across all relevant webpages, enhancing the content experience without being limited to specific platforms. This enables developers to engage with a broad community of meta-layer participants, while the meta-layer handles complex technical issues like strong authentication, participant uniqueness, and data sovereignty.
   
   Example: A developer builds an overlay application that enhances e-commerce sites with community-generated product recommendations, allowing participants to leave reviews that follow the product across different platforms.
    

9. Interconnected Content Graph

   
   The meta-layer enables participants and developers to connect relevant online content through a shared content graph, which enhances discoverability and relevance. This allows participants to navigate content with enhanced context and meaning, creating a richer and more interconnected web experience.
   
   Example: While reading a blog post about sustainable energy, a participant sees related content and previous discussions from across different platforms, connected through the content graph, offering a comprehensive view of the topic.​

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CALL FOR INPUT ON THE NEXT-LEVEL WEB

Deadline: January 31st, 2025 at 11:59p PST
 

As we embark on building the Meta-Layer, the foundation for a new internet infrastructure, we recognize the importance of ensuring that it meets the needs and expectations of diverse communities. That's why we are extending an open Call for Input on the list of desirable properties for the Meta-Layer. These properties will be critical to shaping the essay, which will serve as the guiding vision for the Meta-Layer's development.

This is your opportunity to contribute to the future of the internet. Whether you’re passionate about privacy, security, collaboration, or creativity, we welcome your ideas. Your insights will help define how the Meta-Layer operates—addressing technical, ethical, and community-centric concerns. Our goal is to ensure that the essay reflects the perspectives of all stakeholders and ultimately drives the creation of technology that serves everyone.

We invite written contributions throughout the month of October. Every participant who contributes a meaningful idea will be recognized both online and on-chain and will receive a unique digital badge commemorating their contribution to this historic project.

Where To Start

When considering desirable properties for the Meta-Layer, think about the fundamental characteristics that would make this layer valuable and practical for users, developers, and communities alike. Here are a few prompts to help guide your thinking:

 

• Transcend Limitations: What current limitations do you face when interacting online? Are there specific actions, collaborations, or interactions you wish were possible but aren’t? Consider how a new layer above the web could enhance your experience.
   

• User Experience: What features would make the Meta-Layer feel intuitive, seamless, and enjoyable? Think about ease of navigation, personalization, and accessibility.
   

• Feeling Safe and Secure: What would make you feel safe and confident while interacting in the Meta-Layer? Consider safeguards, community standards, or design features that ensure fair and respectful interactions.

• Decentralized Ownership and Control: How can we give users more control over their online experience while promoting a sense of community?
   

• Context and Collaboration: How can the Meta-Layer help users engage more deeply with content, enabling better collaboration across platforms?
   

• Future Visions: If the Meta-Layer existed today, what kinds of overlay applications, smart tags, or meta-communities would you build to make the web more useful, safe, or collaborative?
   

 

How to Weigh in on the Desirable Properties

We have several ways for you to collaborate and contribute your thoughts on the Meta-Layer. Choose the method that works best for you:

• Google Doc: Collaborate in this Google Doc with comments and suggestions. Requires Google sign-in.

• Email: Send your ideas directly to us via email at info@bridgit.io.

• Annotation: Click on the bouncing icon in the lower right corner of this page and register to activate the Presence Browser. You can then leave comments in the live chat for this page. 

• Inscribe your comments onchain (coming soon)
   

HELP BUILD THE FUTURE OF THE WEB

As we move forward with writing the essay on the desirable properties of the Meta-Layer, it’s helpful to revisit the metaphor of a cake or skyscraper. The Meta-Layer creates the infrastructure—the foundation and plumbing—that developers and communities can build upon. It allows for customization, much like designing the interior of a skyscraper or decorating the layers of a cake. The core web remains intact, but the Meta-Layer enables new rooms of interaction, giving participants more control and more ways to engage with content and each other.
 

We invite you to join us in building this new layer of the web—the icing on the cake—that will make the internet a more dynamic, secure, and collaborative space for everyone.
 

Let’s work together to shape the future. We look forward to your input!

 

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Join The Meta-Layer Initiative

We invite readers to actively participate in shaping the future of the web by joining the Meta-Layer Initiative. This initiative is designed to raise awareness of the decentralized public space above the web, which we call the Metaweb. Our goal is to build an application substrate for a safe, AI-assisted meta-environment, known as the Overweb, that sits above the webpage. The application substrate will empower developers to create overlay applications, smart tags, and meta-communities that revolutionize how we interact with information and each other online.

We are looking for people who are passionate about helping to design, develop, and govern the Meta-Layer. Whether you're a technologist, social impact leader, policy expert, or creative thinker, your skills and ideas are critical to realizing the full potential of this new layer of the web.

To get started, please fill out the Meta-Layer Initiative onboarding form. This will give us a sense of your interests, expertise, and the areas in which you'd like to contribute. We will use this information to ensure that your involvement in the project is meaningful and aligned with your skills and passions.

Joining the Meta-Layer Initiative means becoming part of a transformative movement to redefine the internet, making it a safer, more collaborative, and contextually rich environment for all. We look forward to working with you!